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Engaging Culture with Culture Through Acts of Creative Excellence
Charlie Forrester’s Top Ten Films of the Decade
When I think back on how I entered into this decade, I find myself unable to escape a particular word most apposite to my condition, “sophomoric”. Not only does this aptly correspond to my grade level in college at the time, it also epitomized the level at which I understood the art of film. However, with the guidance of a particularly perceptive professor at the college I was attending, I rapidly discovered the great depths and invigorating bliss available within the art form that is Film. Quite often the common cliché would lope through my mind, “You mean you can watch movie’s for more than just entertainment?” Not that I was completely unaware of this insight before my college years, however, it was a practice that I scoffed at and disparagingly considered designated only for the pretentious “intellectuals” and critics who harbored an odium for all movies that were fun- you know, like “Armageddon”.
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Film Review: Julie and Julia
William Wordsworth disciplined himself to sit down every day and write. His voluminous body of cherished and anthologized work stands as a testimony to that commitment. Dana Gioia, renowned American poet and current head of the National Endowment for the Arts, worked as vice president of General Foods for many years before he began to win awards for his poetry. He would come home each night exhausted, and, after the family was in bed, force himself to rewrite whatever last paragraph he had written the previous evening. This usually served to engender a second wind. He wrote this way for years, and eventually he won the American Book Award in 2001. His coworkers didn’t even know he was a writer. In her poetry guide, Mary Oliver, also emphasizes the importance of disciplined consistency in the artist’s life. She makes the point that the muse can, contrary to popular contention, be trained to show up more consistently, if the artist disciplines himself to make the same commitment.
Short Film: John Gray
Memphis writers/directors Dan Baker & Chris Pollock found their way into the finals of the 2009 Doorpost Film Project contest with this submission. VERY well done piece.